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A Modern Greek Tragedy Foretold

Bennet Baumer The Indypendent
Greece's former finance minister under the radical Syriza government offers a revealing tell-all about modern capitalism through his battles over Greece’s debt with the “Troika”: the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), and eventually with his own prime minister.

As Brexit Approaches, Europe's Left Is Divided - and for Good Reason

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
Can the EU still unite a continent shattered by world wars, or is it little more than a vehicle for austerity capitalism? Soon British voters will vote on Brexit - leaving the EU. Given the absence of a strong, continent-wide left, however, reversing the current economic rules of the EU may be a country-by-country battle. It's already underway - and for all of the economic power of the EU, the organization is vulnerable to charges that Brussels has sidelined democracy.

Exclusive: Yanis Varoufakis Reveals How European Powers' Troika Abolished Greek Anti-Tax Evasion Unit

Lucy Komisar The Komisar Scoop
Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis revealed for the first time how days after he resigned, the Troika effectively abolished a unit he had set up to combat tax evasion. European Commission (EC) President Jean-Claude Junker led the efforts to prevent Greece from collecting taxes. Junker was Minister of Finance and later Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1989 to 2013. Varoufakis called Luxembourg the largest tax haven in the world.

These Four Elections Could Decide the Future of Europe - A Coming Storm?

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
In upcoming votes for the European Union's most indebted countries, the left will have to battle both the forces of austerity and a resurgent xenophobic right. The backdrop for elections in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland is one of deep economic crisis originally ignited by the American financial collapse of 2007-08. The response of the EU is massive cutbacks in government spending, widespread layoffs, and double-digit tax hikes on consumers.

How Austerity Economics Is Fraying Europe's Social Contract

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
The EU's belt-tightening measures are cutting holes in Europe's social-safety net. Austerity as an economic strategy is more than just throwing a scare into countries that, exhausted by years of cutbacks and high unemployment, are thinking of changing course. It's laying the groundwork for the triumph of multinational corporate capitalism - undermining the social contract between labor and capital that's characterized much of Europe for the past two generations.

The Euro-Summit `Agreement' on Greece - Annotated by Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis Yanis Varoufakis - thoughts for the post-2008 world
The Euro Summit statement (or Terms of Greece's Surrender - as it will go down in history) follows, annotated by yours truly. The original text is untouched with my notes confined to square brackets (and in red). Read and weep.

Tidbits - July 16, 2015 - Response to Occupy; Greece; Debt Forgiveness; Why Bernie Sanders; U.S. Torture Program; Flags, Symbols, Racism; Announcements; More...

Portside
Reader Comments: Response to Occupy; Greece and Debt Forgiveness; Why Bernie Sanders; Confederate Flags, Symbols, and Racism; U.S. Torture Program; Death Penalty; and more... Announcements: Benefit Concert for Civil Rights; Rally for Eric Garner; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and The Voting Rights Act at 50; Rosenberg Case Bombshell - Key Witness Lied; Robert Meeropol statement

What Was Good for Germany in 1953 is Good for Greece in 2015

Larry Elliott Economic editor The Guardian (UK)
Economic assistance under the Marshall plan was important to both countries, but it was the granting of debt relief that made a difference to the Germans. After World War II, Germany not only received direct transfers of money - aid through the Marshall plan. Far more important than the $1.4bn was the granting of debt relief at the London conference of 1953.

Why We Recommend a NO in the Referendum - In 6 Short Bullet Points

Yanis Varoufakis; Joseph Stiglitz Yanis Varoufakis
The future demands a proud Greece within the Eurozone and at the heart of Europe. This future demands that Greeks say a big NO on Sunday, that we stay in the Euro Area, and that, with the power vested upon us by that NO, we renegotiate Greece's public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves and the have nots.

Tidbits - July 2, 2015 - Condition of Black Life - Our Real Problem with Race; Take Down Your Flag; Black Churches Being Burned; Greek Referendum; Columbia Divests From Prisons; more...

Portside
Reader Comments: The Condition of Black Life...Our Real Problem with Race; Take Down Your Flag 140+ artists post videos; Black Churches Being Burned; Greek Referendum; Columbia Divests From Prisons; Naomi Oreskes and Changing Climate; World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops By Race; Iran Nuclear Deal; About George Soros and the Ukraine...More Comments; Donate to Rebuild the Churches Fund; Announcement - Art Exhibit of Boycott Posters - Tacoma - July 2-16
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